Butine!
Butine! Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Setup
A hexagonal tile (white flower) is placed between the players so that everyone can reach it in order to place other tiles all around it. This tile is said to be in play. Any tile in contact with it is also said to be in play. This assembly of tiles is called the Meadow.
The bee is placed on top of this first hexagonal tile.
The other tiles are assembled into four piles according to shape and color. These tiles are said to be available.
The Hive cards are shuffled and then stacked to form 1 drawing deck.
Each player receives 3 Hive cards which they place in front of them face up. Then as many Hive cards are revealed face up as there are players, plus 1. So, with 3 players, 4 cards are revealed.
The first player is chosen at random.
[Example of the setup for three players: diagram showing Player 1, Player 2 and Player 3 around the Meadow of tiles, with the drawing deck (face down) and the revealed cards.]
Object of the game
Each player must gather nectar (see below) from as many flowers as possible matching the Hive cards that they have in front of them throughout the game.
The winner is the player who has the most Hive cards placed face down in front of them at the end of the game.
Play
In the course of a game, the players take turns in a clockwise direction starting with the first player. During their turn, a player carries out one of the two following actions:
a) Placing 1 tile
The player chooses 1 available tile, and then places it in full contact with at least one other tile in play, matching up with at least one corner of a tile already in play.
[Example: diagram of tile placements, marked "Incorrect placements".]
b) Gather nectar from flowers as shown on 1 or more Hive cards
The player designates 1 of his cards, and then moves the Bee across 3 adjacent and different tiles in the order indicated by the card. The tile from which the Bee starts does not count.
A card can be read in either one direction or the other. It is therefore not possible to start by moving the Bee to a tile with a flower of the color indicated in the middle of a card.
Once the Bee has been moved across 3 tiles in the order given on the Hive card, the player turns that card face down to show that it has been played. Turned face down, a Hive card indicates that the player has won 1 point.
It is possible to play 3 cards during the same turn by a player. A given tile can then be crossed several times as long as the player respects the rule about 3 adjacent and different tiles for each card played.
It is not possible to move the Bee across the corner of a tile.
[Example: 8 tiles have been placed. The player wins 2 points by moving the Bee: a first point by moving it across the white => yellow => red tiles (burgundy path), and a second point by moving it across the yellow => white => blue tiles (purple path). The movement of the Bee comes to an end on 1 blue flower tile. The player then draws 2 new cards from the deck. Their neighbor can now begin their turn.]
A player who manages to make their Bee gather nectar in the right order 3 times during their turn turns over their 3 Hive cards, then draws a fourth Hive card without looking at it and adds it face down to the three cards played. In this case, the player has thus won 4 points (and not 3) during their turn.
Bonus
At the end of their turn, the player must have 3 face up cards in front of them. In order to do so, they may freely pick 1 face up card next to the drawing deck. The card chose is immediately replaced by 1 card from the drawing deck. The player repeats this until they once again have 3 face up cards in front of them.
It is then the turn of their neighbor on the left to play.
Then, after having reconstituted their objectives (if needed), the player can spend 1 point (that is one of the Hive cards placed face down in front of them) to discard 1 of their cards in order to choose 1 card available next to the drawing deck or draw the first card from the deck itself.
End of game
The game ends when the last Hive card has been drawn from the deck. Each player then counts their face down cards. The cards left face up in front of the players do not count.
In case of a tie, the winners shake hands.
Variant: For quick games
It's possible to play Bizzy Bee! by dividing the pack of available cards in two to play a quick game and/or by posing a challenge, such as being the first player to turn over 15 Hive cards in order to win the game.
[Transcriber note: the source prints the game name here as "Bizzy Bee!", which differs from the title "Butine!" used everywhere else in the rulebook. Transcribed as printed.]
Optional rules for more experienced players
It is possible to put back in the box 2 Hive cards previously acquired in order to gather nectar and place 1 tile during the same turn. These lost cards thus not be counted at the end of the game.
[Transcriber note: the source sentence reads "These lost cards thus not be counted at the end of the game." as printed; it appears to omit a word (likely "will"). Transcribed as printed.]